Richard (Dick) Proenneke - Quotes
Some fantastic quotes from Dick Proenneke.
"I suppose, too, I was here to test myself. Not that I had never
done it before, but this time, it was to be a more thorough and
lasting examination. What was I capable of that I didn't know yet?
Could I truly enjoy my own company for an entire year?"
"Fried potatoes, onions and fish. You can't beat that!"
"Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completion, satisfies me."
"I don't want these logs looking like a Boy Scout was turned loose on them with a dull hatchet"
"Didn't want the cabin looking' like it was built by a Boy Scout with a dull hatchet."
"Fifteen minutes I had myself a wooden spoon."
"It didn't take long... after several casts, it happened with the suddenness of a broken shoelace."
"This lake is kind of like a woman, all smiles one minute, and dancing' a temper tantrum the next!"
"Learn to use an axe, and respect it and you can't help but love it. But abuse one and it will wear your hands raw and open your foot like an overcooked sausage."
"If you don't need to eat, well don't kill it."
"I have often thought about what I would do out here if I were stricken with a serious illness, if I broke a leg, cut myself badly, or had an attack of appendicitis. Almost as quickly as the thought came, I dismissed it. Why worry about something that isn't? Worrying about something that might happen is not a healthy pastime. A man's a fool to live his life under a shadow like that."
"I have thought briefly about getting caught in rock slides or falling from a rock face. If that happened, I would probably perish on the mountain in much the same way many of the big animals do. I would be long gone before anyone found me. My only wish would be that folks wouldn't spend a lot of time searching. When the time comes for a man to look his Maker in the eye, where better could the meeting be held than in the wilderness?"
"I realize that men working together can perform miracles such as sending men to walk on the surface of the moon. There is definitely a need and a place for teamwork, but there is also a need for an individual sometime in his life to forget the world of parts and pieces and put something together on his own - complete something. He's got to create."
"Man is dependent on man. I would be the last to argue that point. Babe brought me things that other men made or produced. We need each other, but nevertheless, in a jam the best friend you have is yourself."
"I have surprised myself with what I can make with simple tools when a definite need arose. I don't think a man knows what he actually can do until he is challenged."
"I've found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain? Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things."